Week Five: Making Way for Kinyarwanda

This past weekend, my parents came to visit me. I really enjoyed myself, and I think they did too. We went to the casino (a first for me), we went bowling, and we explored State Street. What about my language study, you ask? As I said, I really enjoyed myself, and I think they did too. All evasiveness aside though, my Kinyarwanda study may not have been as impressive as I would have liked this past week. I consciously refuse to be disappointed in myself, however, because that was valuable time I spent with my family, and, furthermore, there will be times when “something comes up”- I am sick, a deadline looms, my brother comes to visit me for a week-, and I will be unable to dedicate the time needed for my language study. When such incidents occur, I can’t see myself as a failure, but rather as being presented with an opportunity, an opportunity to “make it up” in the following days/weeks or to adjust my goals according to the work I can accomplish. Presently, I see no reason why I cannot aim to study a little more in the following weeks, in order to satisfy my expectations, but I will keep you posted regardless.

            As a suggestion to another student, Dr. T recommended that we look at our calendars (on Sunday night, as she does) and determine where we have free space in our schedules. It may not be the same time from week to week day, nor day to day, but regardless, she suggested we take advantage of the free space and schedule language study then. Although it’s an admittedly simple suggestion, I think it will be very helpful to me, insofar as I respond well to “order.” For example, I have a meeting with the instructional team for the course I T.A. for every Friday. Even though my parents were in Madison last Friday, I still attended the meeting, as it was on my calendar and it represents “order” in my life. I wonder if I would have done something similar for my language study if it would have been as effective. Perhaps it doesn’t matter now, but I can investigate for the future.

            Indeed, as I proceed forward, I will keep such suggestions in mind, but more concretely, I have already returned to Memrise. For confirmation regarding a phrase on someone else’s course, I Googled it. Sometimes I can find what I intend this way. Sometimes I cannot, because Kinyarwanda, like most African languages, does not have a Google Translate or even a wide assortment of websites dedicated to its instruction. Even though www.kinyarwanda.net is helpful to a point, particularly when it comes to unconjugated verbs, nouns, or adjective stems, it isn’t always so useful for idiomatic expressions and/or words that requirement agreement in the prefix. This past week, however, I found a website called www.glosbe.com, and it provides translations for a number of complete phrases. Of course, I plan to confirm the accuracy of the website in time, but I am excited by the prospect of it. Unfortunately, I did not see where the website offers translations in the languages my classmates are studying, but I did see Afrikaans, (Coastal) Swahili, Yoruba, and Zulu.

            Murakoze kandi mwaramutse!